May is melanoma awareness month, and HonorHealth Research Institute is one of the Southwest’s best treatment centers for this disease, a cancer that is exceptionally common in sunny Arizona.
Skin cancer is generally one of the most common and often easiest-to-treat types of cancer, but not always. Melanoma skin cancer develops in the cells that produce melanin, the pigment that gives color to skin — and to the eyes.
HonorHealth Research Institute is dedicated to the treatment of all types of melanoma and skin cancers, including rare melanoma subtypes. Among the subtypes of melanoma, one of the rarest and particularly devastating types of malignancy is melanoma of the eye, or Uveal Melanoma, also known as Ocular Melanoma.
Like the skin, eyes have melanin-producing cells and can develop melanoma. And like melanoma of the skin, Uveal Melanoma can metastasize, or spread, to anywhere in the body, though it most commonly metastasizes to the liver. With a survival rate of just over one year, Uveal Melanoma is a difficult to treat cancer, with only about 1 in 10 patients responding to current treatments.
But at HonorHealth Research Institute, hope is here!
ASTEROIDS used to battle eye cancer
Like the classic 80’s video game, Asteroids, in which invaders are obliterated, Honor Research Institute is bringing a modern version of Asteroids to the fight against Uveal Melanoma. The new ASTEROIDS — Apparatus to Stimulate Tumor Environment and Reproduce Organs by using an Interactive and Dynamic System — is a new tool in the war on cancer.
Through ASTEROIDS technology, which is being developed by the Center for Applied Nanobioscience and Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, in collaboration with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company (MGC), researchers at HonorHealth Research Institute and UArizona are developing new treatment options for patients with uveal melanoma and other cancers.
Because Melanoma of the eye is such an aggressive tumor, there are few treatment options. But HonorHealth Research Institute is now conducting seven clinical trials that include uveal melanoma, featuring new treatments — the largest number of clinical trials in Arizona for any refractory melanoma; refractory meaning it failed to respond to previous treatments.
“We are the place with the most options for refractory disease,” said Dr. Justin Moser, a medical oncologist and head of HonorHealth Research Institute’s Cutaneous Oncology Program. Dr. Moser specializes in the development of new skin cancer therapies, including melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, merkel cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma.
“I believe that all patients with cancers deserve access to the newest and most advanced cancer therapies,” Dr. Moser said. “We at the HonorHealth Research Institute work hard to match patients with the newest clinical trials to ensure Arizonans have access to the most exciting and promising studies.”
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About the HonorHealth Research Institute
HonorHealth Research Institute is an international destination that is at the forefront of providing patients with a better quality of life through access to clinical trials and innovative treatment options. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the institute’s team of physicians and researchers collaborate with experts from across the nation to offer life-changing therapies, drugs and devices. At the HonorHealth Research Institute, patients have access to tomorrow’s innovations, today.
